Saturday, April 28, 2012

Twenty-Eight

Ride #28 was a bike date, of sorts - Patty and I had signed up to help out for a coupla hours at the Pedals2People tune-up event at the West Central Community Center. Neither of us had been involved in one of these before and so it was quite the new experience.

I'm aware that P2P has done loads of community tune-ups and as a first-timer, what really struck me was how they have adapted what they do, and what they are prepared to do, to meet the general need. Which can vary wildly, btw. Not to say that they haven't defined their role and their purpose - they have. But within that framework, the flexibility and creativity and efficiency is pretty amazing. I loved the experience and am busy processing everything I saw and can't wait til I have a chance to help out with another one of these.

On a lighter and more personal note, I'm totally out of touch with kids' bikes, I acknowledge, so this whole setup is probably old news to you. But it was new and rad to me - it's the brake cable mechanism that allows you to spin your handlebars endlessly without consequence of coiling the cable tightly around your head tube, thereby yanking the rotation of you handlebars to a sudden and deleterious (to your cables) stop. This dept store version is no doubt cheezy and problematic, but as just a basic mechanical concept it's something to behold.

Or maybe it's just me. At any rate, then.

Patty was a "greeter" and decided that after handing out quite a number of P2P spoke cards, one would look pretty good on her ride.

A big part of any legitimate date is a meal, and on the way home we stopped for lunch. At Pacific Pizza. Lady's choice, I kid you not. I was only too happy to favor my gal's fancy.

Patty hasn't come right and and said it. Just yet. But this constant picture taking. Something will eventually come to a head. In the meantime, from where we were sitting, I spied this shot that I thought was interesting. Even as I was snapping it, I was fully engaged in the conversation, I assure you.

Here's another picture that I took earlier this week that is not in any way related to today or riding. Holy hell, I'm now using this so-called bike blog for picture dumps. How lucky are you.